Garrison Keillor and the Unitarians

I was raised a Unitarian, and still feel that it is the denomination that has the most similar beliefs to those I hold myself. But I want to defend Mr. Keillor's general point. Even as a child it drove me crazy that we sung Christian hymns or carols with altered lyrics. For one, it often made them sound ridiculous. But as I grew older it became even more troublesome to me. It seems to me that it's something on par with ripping off another country's national anthem. Imagine if Norway took the tune and then 98% of the lyrics of the Star Spangled Banner then changed that other 2% to make it vaguely relevant to their nation. Many Americans would probably be pretty peeved. The rest of us would just be very puzzled. We (Unitarians) butchered what some regard has highly spiritual songs, I am sympathetic to people who are bothered by it.I think Keillor is being a bit of an ass about it. But he's an old man and deserves a bit of a break as a result.

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